


Evolution

by EquusofEquusNanashi



Category: Guyver
Genre: Adventure, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-08
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-26 01:16:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/959871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EquusofEquusNanashi/pseuds/EquusofEquusNanashi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five friends start out on their final High School tour. Unknown to them Cronos isn't just a Para-military organization in a manga series, but is actually real. And these kids are at the top of Cronos's list of test subjects. Can these Five friends escape Cronos's gaze? Or will they be forced to serve an organization that would sooner kill them then let them live a normal life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. High School

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Guyver or any of its characters. The Plot is mine as well as the characters in this chapter.
> 
> For all of you who are with me for the first time thank you for reading. Some of my friends and I are writing this together after I thought this story up in the bus to Chicago for my final tour of High School. None of the names are real but each of the main characters that you will meet in this chapter are based off of me and my friends. Please Review and tell me what you think. This is only the first of many more chapters to come.

**Emilia March 8, 2014**

I have never been one to keep a diary. But with everything that has happened to me and my friends in the last year I believe it is my duty to write down the story of how we became what we are. The story of how we were truly forced into adulthood. To sink or swim based solely on our own merits…

It rained that day, the day everything changed, the day I became an enemy of Chronos.

Just a normal day, well as normal as any could get with friends that many considered insane, and even more considered outcasts, because that truly is what we were, outcasts. Now before we get into what exactly happened that day let me give a little background. All of us, Leslie, Kristen, Amy, Alex and I had gotten up at an ungodly hour to get to our school by 6:45. We would be going to Chicago for our final high school orchestra tour.

The tour itself has no meaning to this tail, but even I understand the importance of settings.

The bus ride to Chicago was bearable, with only one stop along the way for lunch. The Avengers movie was good though. Leslie, my black haired, spectacled, Asian friend sat next to me on the bus ride. Sleeping for most of the first half of the ride she redeemed herself when she let me listen to her iPod for over an hour. During that time I could safely assume she was speaking to Kristen. Our dishwater blond of the group.

Kristen, like me lived outside of our school district. We were both used to early mornings and late nights chatting on Gmail. She wanted to go into Bio-engineering at Sheffield College in England. A citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom she was looking forward to spending more time with her grandmother. Really, I should have known she was going to become a member of Chronos, but at that point I thought Chronos to be myth, an organization only in a comic series.

Oh, how wrong I was.

We went to lunch at Chili's the day of the bus ride. Leslie and I partaking in the two for one, one appetizer-two entire deal just like Alex and Amy did. Alex and Amy to put it simply were inseparable. Alex, the only male in the group was truly insane, well, and less sane than most people. But considering what I known now it makes a lot of since. Amy on the other hand is the more grounded d of the two.

Even now when we are being hunted by a Para-military organization set to take over the world Amy still is able to ground us. Well, until the hyperactive side of me comes out. But that's a story for another time.

We all got to the Hotel that night at 9 o'clock and exhausted went to bed, not knowing that the next day would change our lives forever. The next day our plate was full. First was the exchange with another high school then both science museums, dinner and a Blue Man Group concert. We never made it to the concert.

The exchange was long and reminded us all how much we really needed to practice our instruments. Then loaded up onto the bus once again we were shipped off to play with electricity, tidal waves and vortexes. It was fun, a little bit, while it lasted. Before I knew it we were at the field museum.

Now, for all of you who have never been to the field museum before let me describe it. It is a large stone structure with an open ballroom at the main entrance. There is Sue the T-Rex as well as two large elephant in the ballroom. An Egyptian pyramid is to the left of this. Up on the second level is the gems and jewels section. We walked through this section slowly, wanting to see all the lovelies there were. Next to the jewels, sparkly, was the meteorite exhibit. This exhibit had a new addition to its continence. A large metallic orb, perfectly round with a line on the top of the orb. The orb was of a metal never before found on earth. I should have known right then that it was trouble.

"Let's go in guys!" I had almost begged the others. Luckily enough for me they too were interested.

"Alright, but after this we are going to the Underground Adventures," Amy had exclaimed before running a hand through her curly red hair.

"Fine, let's go!" I had exclaimed before grabbing hold of our photoholic brit and bespectacled Asian and dragged them through the entry.

Inside the room was amazing. The museum curator had decided to bring the most expensive and beautiful gems they had at the museum and mixed them with the space rocks around the room. In the center was the orb itself. The noon rush had left the building leaving only a few old men and women in the room with us. Not that it mattered in the end. Closing in on our prey – I mean the main exhibit – Leslie had stated to get pale. The closer we got to the mysterious orb the paler her continence.

"Leslie, are you alright?" Kristen asked putting down her camera.

Swallowing once Leslie got closer to the orb, nearly pressing up against the glass before nodding. "I feel fine gu-" Too quickly for any of us to react Leslie crumpled to the floor of the exhibit.

 


	2. Leslie / in which I try to make sense and kind of fail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, it's Leslie! I'm 'Meelia's friend and co-writer in this fanfic, and you'll see my contributions to the story every so often in the form of a diary entry or a third-person narrative. I'm an avid reader and writer myself, though I admit I don’t have an account on this website. Anyway, I hope you like it!

There are few things I hate more than attracting attention in a public space. Performances are fine, in a large group, or class presentations. But awkward reaches a whole new level when your body ceases to function and you just sort of – topple over.

Frankly, I'm not sure what happened. The temperature was regular, and I hadn't received any major shock, electric or otherwise, so I was totally unprepared when, as we were walking through the meteorites section of the Field Museum, a wave of energy pulsed through me and knocked me flat off my feet.

I could still hear my friend's voices above me. I wasn't altogether unconscious, but traveling at light speed through an in-between state of consciousness, a sort of void, if you will. And the voices of my comrades intermingled with other, stranger voices: deep, throaty, and ominous. I emerged with an insubstantial landing on the floor of what seemed to be a laboratory, and there were wondrously tall beings around me conversing in low tones about a serious matter I could just barely discern. The one nearest me spoke in an unfamiliar tongue that arrested me with its antiquity, and I strove towards it as if the whole of the human race were contained in that short enunciation.

I understood it, but I did not understand.

"Something primal this way comes," he said, in such a lugubrious tone that I felt like laughing. "Hark, brothers, that you do not reveal classified information to our eavesdropper."

"Stop that," said another irritably. His accent was more understandable, although still thick with the grime of London. "You're like a bloody watchdog."

"And you are a regular prince, are you?" a third voice retorted in a German accent. "Your recklessness has not helped us dese past monts."

"Oh, shut up."

"Nossing good to say about anyone." A shake of the head, but that was all I could discern of the newest speaker on the far right; he was half-concealed by the shadow.

"Thy bickering dost not please mine ear," the first voice said pointedly. "Nor does it please our visitor's."

"He's going bloody senile."

"Everyone, halt." This was a heavily Oriental accent, perhaps Chinese. "You would be wise to listen to Waferdanos. Someone is here. I can sense her presence." He muttered a few more expressions in Chinese which I took to be profanity.

"She?" the two German accents demanded.

"Yes, you numbskulls," the first voice said in uncharacteristically modern English.

For some reason, I suddenly wanted to see their faces. I strained to my feet and entered in my spirit form, anticipating a gaggle of pompous, opinionated politicians. But they were not, and they stopped abruptly when my dream-self entered - as if they could see me - then came very close with murder in their eyes. They were horrifying; creatures of nightmares and mythology, and they were pushing at me with a determination that sent me ricocheting out of the dream and into an uneasy consciousness.

"They know," I gasped, sitting upright.

"Who knows what?" Amy asked bemusedly. They were kneeling around me in a sort of semicircle.

"They… wait." The dream was already slipping away. "How long was I out?"

"Barely two minutes," Emilia said, glancing at her phone. "That was really sudden."

"Are you okay?" Kristen asked uncomfortably.

"Superb. But let's not go into the crystals gallery again. I have a bad feeling about that place."


	3. Randomness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know its basically fluff but I hope you enjoy it while it is here. Also some of the characters of the Guyver Universe will be OOC. Just wanted to give you a heads up about that for up coming chapters. We will try to make them as true to the characters as possible but there will be some exceptions.
> 
> We do not own Guyver, if we (I) did Sho would side with Chronos.
> 
> Now on with the story!

The Group of teenagers did not have long before they were being hunted, (not that they would have known). As they gave the Gems and Meteorites exhibit a wide birth many things became clear.

One, Leslie was completely fine except for a nagging feeling like she had missed something .

Two, they were being followed.

Three, the field museum was not as cool as the group of teens had been lead to believe.

"Where do you want to go Alex?" Amy asked her boyfriend.

"The Underground Adventures," he replied.

"Oh, it's SOOOO COOOl!" Emilia gushed from Leslie's side, "you get shrunk down and everything."

Ignoring her friends chatter Leslie opened her map and scanned for the exhibit. The feeling of having forgotten something important had not left her for a moment and was starting to get annoying. It distracted her at the best of times.

"Thats on the bottom floor, why don't we head down there? We have about an hour left." Kristen said while looking over Leslie's shoulder. Snapping another photo of the vaulted ceiling she looked back at the group.

"'Kay," Emilia chimed before heading toward the nearest staircase.

Letting distance appear between themselves and Emilia, Kristen looked at Alex. "Ten bucks says she doesn't even notice." Looking at the retreating back of the hyperchild (aka Emilia) Alex laughed. Shaking on it the quatro followed Emilia down the stairs to the lower levels.


	4. the kidnapping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The real story starts here. I tried to put as many correct types of Monster that I could.

After a hilarious freak out by Emilia in the Underground adventures Kristen grudgingly parted ways with ten dollars. "Guys! Why didn't you tell me that I had a glow worm on my back! I mean….uhg." Shuddering once again at the thought of something crawling up her back Emilia glared accusingly at her friends.

"What can I say? It's not often we get to see you afraid of something 'Meelia." Kristen smirked.

"OH shut up Birdhouse! It's not like you were the one to have something crawling up your back!" Emilia snarled ready to get into a brawl with the brit.

"Enough you two," called Amy from next to her boyfriend.

"But-"

"We need to get going," Alex said cutting off the rest of whatever it was Emilia was going to say. "It is nearly 4 now and we can't be late."

"I agree with Alex," Leslie piped in from behind the map. "From the looks of it we need to group a level and turn left to met up with the rest of the tour."

Crossing her arms like a petulant child, Emilia mumbled as the group headed for the closest staircase. The basement level of the field museum was drab, but housed some interesting aspects of Ancient Egyptian life. Passing through the few exhibits there were in the basement the group in general began to notice a slight burning in their chests. Alex was the first to start coughing, followed closely by the others. Then the lethargy set in, recognition as to what was happening flitted through a few of the friend faces before darkness overtook them.

* * *

 

Watching the monitors in the back of the truck a Gregole tried not to think about what his team was about to do. To gas a whole building and kidnap five teenagers was one thing, in Japan similar cases had occurred during the Mt. Minikami Guyver conflict, but it had never happened in the western hemisphere before. And it was his team that would be the first to kidnap children.

For that's what they were in his eyes. A few of them may be eighteen but they were still children, teens who had not seen the darker side of humanity and what adulthood was really like. Chronos wouldn't even make sleeper units out of their age group. It just wasn't right. Not that he could voice that opinion; actually he shouldn't even be thinking that. But before his thought could go anywhere else confirmation came in that the building was gassed and the items were ready for extraction.

Taking out a gas mask he ordered half his men to secure the area and keep the police and firefighters out while the other half to fan out inside the building and find their targets. "I want this fast and clean," he said through the com units in his helmet. "We get in and we get out, and no one knows the difference."

His team sounded off their agreement and they entered the building. A white gas was starting to take form hanging from the ceiling. Growing less hazy and more see threw the closer to the ground it became. Visually scanning the area he took out a palm pad that was linked to the frequency that one of the teen's zoacrystal vibrated at. How a child got a zoacrystal was another thing he wanted to know but at the same time didn't.

Flicking a switch on the side the screen flashed on and a low beeping could be heard from the device. Sighing he started forward, now all he had to do was find the kids and cart them off to the nearest base.

Not long after his team had cleared the main floor one of his men claimed an affirmative on finding the kids. "Where are they?" he asked already heading for the Ziatt's last location.

"In the basement sir," came the reply, "near the entrance to the Egyptian exhibit."

"Get the gurneys down there and be careful with the kids. We don't want our Lords to have anything to get angry about." He said making his way into the lower floor of the building. Quickly pinpointing the location that the Ziatt was at he walked over to him. "Good job," he said from beside the Ziatt.

"It was no problem boss," the man beside him said. "I'm just a little surprised that the signal is coming from one of the small ones."

Looking at the device in his hand the Gregole was surprised to say that the Ziatt was right. The Asian looking one was most definitely where the signal was coming from. Looking down at the cluster of teens on the ground brought back all the previous thoughts of this matter to the forefront of his mind. They just looked so damn young! How could they be the ones causing his Lords so much trouble?

Shaking his head the Gregole watched as the crew that had the gurneys arrived and loaded up the teens. Walking with the crew to the loading bay where they loaded the teens onto undistinguished, ordinary ambulances.

As the first responders rushed out with the first load of the attack victims the teens were driven away toward a new future. It wouldn't be until late into the night that the tour leader realized the five were missing, and early the next morning their parents would be notified, but it would be too late to help.


	5. the confrontation

Leslie was the first to wake up. She glanced about her with the confused air of an anachronistic aeronaut, then for up and took a few uncertain steps around the confines of the narrow cell. All around her were the unconscious bodies of her friends, splayed haphazardly in every which way with their arms and legs all over each other.

Weak, pulsing light filtered in from the outside of the cell. Unlike sunlight, it had the ominous violet tinge of some sinister, extraterrestrial being, and looked in danger of hypnotizing some unsuspecting bystander. The miasma was thick and oppressive, and smelled like a concoction of decaying organic matter; it certainly was not pleasant, to understate it severely. A low drip! came from deep inside the bowels of the dungeon somewhere. The echo was so loud in the silence that it was nearly tangible. All around, there was no sign of a living creature but for the ones at her feet.

"Well, shit!" Leslie exclaimed.

This woke Amy.

"Hey,” she said stirring. “Wait, what’s going on?”

“We’ve been kidnapped,” Leslie told her. “Literally.”

“I don’t think we could very well be kidnapped figuratively,” Kristen replied, coming to. “At least, I hope not. That’d be terrible.”

“Good point.” Leslie stepped over Alex’s limp arm and touched the bars of the cell gingerly. “More importantly, though, where are we?”

“Beats me.” Amy, still sitting on the ground, attempted to shake Alex awake.

Something like a sigh, and then a yawn.

“More importantly,” Kristen began, “what - ”

“ - THE FUCK HAPPENED?!” Emilia shouted.

Three heads turned in her direction, slightly alarmed at the outburst. They had unwittingly been conversing in hushed voices up to that point; the unnatural quietude of their atmosphere seemed to have a profound effect on anyone who dwelt in it.

“I WAKE UP AND WE’RE IN A CAGE,” Emilia said. If voices could be caps-lock, this would be it.

“Jail cell,” Leslie corrected. “Cages have bars on all sides, I’m pretty sure.”

“I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR TECHNICALITIES, YOU INSOLENT PARROT!”

“Calm down, ‘Meelia,” Kristen told her, and she stood up. The cell was more than a cozy fit for the five of them, and standing would allow a bit more much-needed space.

“NO.”

“‘Meelia.”

“SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!”

“Well, it’s not like we know,” Leslie said with some exasperation. “Usually, kidnappings don’t involve any kind of notice beforehand.”

“SMARTASS.”

“Stop shouting for a sec,” Amy said. They all stopped and listened nervously for an indication of another person’s presence.

“Seriously, though, this is ridiculous!” Emilia had calmed down enough to quit using her caps-lock voice. She jumped up - barely missing Alex’s head - and began to pace around the cell, taking no heed of Kristen, who was being shunted from one side to another, or Leslie, who narrowly avoided colliding with her every time she reached the right side.

“Mon Dieu! Du calme, il n’y a pas un feu!” Leslie yelped, as she was knocked over once again.

Kristen shook her head and sat down next to Amy. “We’ve got to get out of here, and fast. ‘Meelia, you’re not helping. Sit down. What we need is to make a plan. For all we know, they could be watching us, whoever they are, but since no one’s down here right now, it’s our best shot.”

“Right, a plan. And what do you propose we do?” Leslie huddled in the middle as well to avoid obstructing Emilia’s path. “We can’t very well just bust out of cast-iron metal bars. That’s bound to end up messy.”

“We could talk to them,” suggested Amy.

Leslie stared at her agape.

“Amy, you can’t just talk to your captors and expect them to let you go! Didn’t you hear about that incident where these girls were kept in this guy’s basement for ten years?”

“What incident?” she asked.

“She’s got a point,” Kristen said pointedly.

“Besides, they’re, like, reptiles!” Emilia cried.

“What?” said Leslie.

“What?” said Kristen.

“What?” said Amy, who did a bad job of concealing her laughter.

“They are!”

“‘Meelia, what are you talking about?” Leslie asked through her guffaws.

“They don’t look at all like reptiles!” said Amy, giggling uncontrollably. “If anything, they’re more human than we are.”

They stared at her.

“Not that I’ve seen them or anything.”

Staring.

“Or know about them.”

More staring.

“I’m guessing you know who our kidnappers are?” Kristen suggested.

The drip of stalactites in the distance pierced the silence, seeming to grow as they looked to one another uncertainly. Faraway, at this moment, the said ‘kidnappers’ were on their way homeward, so much the better to deal with their teenaged charges. Unbeknownst to the girls who now sat on the dusty floor of an obscure corner of the unused dungeon (oh, and Alex, who was still unconscious), they were at this moment nearly at the door.

Amy let out a gusty sigh. “Well, I suppose the cat’s out of the bag, isn’t it?”

“You could say that the proverbial cat is out of the proverbial bag, but I would never trust a man (or woman) who deals in proverbs, myself.”

This voice came, unexpectedly, from outside the cell. A swarthy-skinned man with dark hair stepped forward, his enormously muscular arms crossed in front of him. He looked like the type who would mash someone to bits because they insulted his mother. His clothes had the slightly raggedy look of being homemade, despite his overwhelming air of professionalism. He was definitely a tough cookie.

“Carblarl Khan. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Carblarl Khan? As in thee Carblarl Khan?” Amy asked pressing her back into the wall.

“Of course childe,” he said a cruel lisp to his words. “Who ever else would share my name?’

“Your one of the twelve right?” Emilia asked having finally stopped pacing .

All of the others stared at her.

“What!” Emilia exclaimed in annoyance. “I said they're like reptiles for a reason! I mean their not even human anymore!”

“What are you talking about?” Leslie asked looking at her friend as if she had grown a second head.

“I’m talking about him,”

“Carblarl?”

“Yes, him!”

“He’s not a reptile,” Kristen stated with a shake of her head.

“Well he’s not human either.” Emilia said crossing her arms yet again.

A chuckle from outside the sell caused the four girls to stop arguing. “The annoying brash childe is  correct. I or I should say the twelve are not human. At least not anymore. Though I find it interesting that one of your low ranking caliber would know of us.”

“Well love, you shouldn’t have had a manga made of your exploits in Japan,” the snotty tone Emilia used  when addressing Carblarl sent a chill up the others spines. This was one of their captors she was talking to like that! Who knows what they would do to her! or to them for that matter!

“You are an insignificant little speck on the line of history childe. And I will not take disrespect from the like so you!”

“You’re nothing but the child of a beluga whale!’ Emilia shot back. “I mean really? Were you born that big or were you grown out of a test tube?”

“My mother was Mongolian! Now you insufferable little brat you will sit back and be quiet while the council talks to your Zoalord friend here.”

With that the door to the cell opened and Carblarl entered. Quickly grabbing hold of Leslie he exited again.  “You will see her again if you behave, or you may not.” He said keeping a firm hold on the struggling asian. “Good bye.”

 


	6. Leslie // in which I have a sort-of teleconference with some aliens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will warn you now that some of the Zoalords are OOC. My good friend and co-writer on this piece has not read or watched Guyver. This chapter is her's

Needless to say, I was seriously pissed at this massive peabrain of a man. Already on a short fuse from being denied internet for several hours, his stiff attitude just about sent me over the edge. After all, we’d all gone to the Field Museum to enjoy cultural enrichment (and pizza), not get kidnapped by ambiguously reptilian and/or mammalian creatures who really needed haircuts. We get to go on a trip all together for once, and this motherfranker ruins it.

Well, I wasn’t the best at concealing it.

“You know Cambodia is like obsolete now, right?” I yelled at his back as he lead the way out. “That’s right, you’re the only sheep farmers left!”

“I’m Mongolian,” he said.

“What’s that? Manchuria stopped being a thing after World War II!”

“I have no time for your antics, female.” He grunted this retort as he climbed the stairs. They swirled upwards in a dizzying helix; I couldn’t even see the end of them.

“I’m trying to be culturally insensitive, you moron.”

“What would they say if they heard you say such things...”

He had a point, I supposed. Sorry to any and all Cambodian and Manchurian readers. You’re awesome; he’s not.

“Anyway, tell me about this whole kidnapping thing. Who wants to see me?”

“Archanfel,” he said. That was the only word he uttered, and it was barely audible over the clanking of his boots on the steps. He said nothing further, as if this was the end all be all of the conversation. I wasn’t even sure I had heard him correctly - are can fell? Arcan fell? Are kanfle? What?

“What?”

“I do not expect you to understand.”

“If you would speak a goddamn human language, maybe I could understand. How am I supposed to hear you over this inane noise?”

“ARCHANFEL!” he shouted, as if invoking the power of Satan.

“Much better, thanks,” I muttered, and rubbed my ears somewhat disgruntledly.

For some reason, the atmosphere began changing. When we got to the top of the stairs, the air was no longer dank or musty - most of the earthy smell was gone, and when we stepped out the exit, all resemblance to a dungeon was gone. It was still dark, and the light still had an unnatural color, but there was a strange absence of sensory information. I noticed gradually that it wasn’t that the earthy smell had gone; rather, it was like all smell had gone. It was near silent, but for the quiet hum of machinery punctuated by the occasional beep! Our footsteps sounded behemoth in the dim void-like room.

“Where are we?” I whispered.

“The lab,” the man called Carblarl said shortly. He made no attempt to explain this further, and I had no intention of asking again. In a horror movie, something would jump out at me any minute.

Wait, actually, something jumped out anyway. A bloody six-foot-tall streak of royal blue dashed in front of us and threw its arms around Carblarl with force of a boa constrictor strangling a deer. I didn’t realize for a solid minute that the strange choking noise was not, in fact, Mr I’m Mongolian getting murdered, but the other creature laughing.

“Carblarl, how haf jou been?” the figure asked. I realized he was significantly more humanoid than I thought.

“Not now, Fried’rich,” Carblarl said, though his voice betrayed some pleasure at being thusly greeted. “I have a charge of which I must dispose (with much relief, I assure you) at the gate (for Archanfel’s use, you see).”

“Ohh, I see,” the Fried’rich guy said. As the mammoth in front of me moved aside, I could see that he was a slim, well-built man, obviously of European origin. In the purplish light, his hair and eyes looked curiously bleached, and his nose was very defined in the Grecian style. When he smiled, he looked a little carnivorous. In fact, for whatever reason, he was outfitted in Prussian magnificence that no doubt dated back to the late 1800’s. With a sword at his hip and breeches whiter than his teeth, he was the picture of (murderous) brilliance.

“This is the female child,” Carblarl said, referring to me with a casual gesture.

“Or, you know, girl,” I said, waving with a weak smile. “Hi.”

Fried’rich looked at me musingly, one fist under his chin. “Jou know, Carblarl, she is cuter zan ze last vone.”

“What?” Carblarl said.

“I’m more disturbed that there was a last one,” I remarked, though I was a bit flattered in a weird way.

“Oh, don’t vorry!” Fried’rich moved towards me with surprising agility and patted my head. “Archanfel is a reasonable man. He vill treat jou well.”

“Who is this Archanfel guy?”

They exchanged meaningful glances.

“Jou don’t need to vorry,” Fried’rich said. He was more anxious this time. “It’s not for me to explain. But he vill tell jou all.”

“Come along, then,” Carblarl said. “He will be angry if we do not arrive soon.”

I had to admit, I liked the handsome, flattering Prussian. He had a friendly tone, and furthermore, seemed a little more inclined to give me information. Yet there was a different aura around the both of them that made them seem not quite from this world. The way they carried themselves was certainly human; the words they spoke carried human accents, and sounded human enough to fool my ears; they even looked pretty much human. No, it was something else. They would pause occasionally with eyes darting - not like they were scanning their surroundings, but rather like they were reading something, or imagining a vivid encounter. Even their glances at each other were, while devoid of intimacy, full of meaning. Their expressions changed noticeably after these exchanges, as if they’d somehow transmitted ideas without uttering a word out loud. What were they? And what did they have to do with me?

Archanfel would tell me, I hoped. Whatever or whoever he was, I would make sure he did. What else was there to do but follow them through the ‘lab’?

 


	7. Those Left Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to warn you that this chapter takes a serious tone very quickly. And dark secrets of the past start to come out.

 

To say those left behind were glad when the pretentious Mongolian left was an understatement. Alex still hadn’t woken up and the girls were both relieved and worried. What would happen to Leslie now that she was on her own? They all knew that when she had been deceived her internet access for a period of time her temper would run short and the filter between her mouth and her brain would dissolve into nothing.  It was something they found endearing to the asian and slightly terrifying.

The unnatural glow of the lights painted the girls faces grave as they looked at one another. Only so much could happen at one time before they could take no more information in. Amy was still pressed up against the farthest wall from the door. Her insides doing strange flip flops as Carblarl’s voice spun around and around in her head. For everything that she was, she had never wanted to hear that voice again. The voice that haunted her nightmares and living memories. Memories of pain and loss.

She knew so much of the men who had taken them. So much that any sane person would consider ludicrous. Yet Emilia’s outburst had surprised her. How could she know about Chronos? It wasn’t an organization that would just publicly display what it was and did. Uncurling from her spot Amy looked over the others. Kristen was sitting down close to her watching Emilia pace on the far wall, while Alex lay unconscious in her lap. If he didn’t wake up soon she would start to worry. She knew what had happened to him as a child, it was one of the things that kept the two of them together, their shared past.

“What do you know of our kidnappers?” Amy asked softly.

The pacing stopped with a sigh. “I know that we are in Chronos’s grasp. And for some reason we are not being used as lab rats and test stock for new zoanoid designs. Why we were taken I don't know. Why the council of twelve is even interested in Leslie I don’t know.” Growling in frustration Emilia turned toward the cell door. “I do know we have a very low chance of survival though.”

True, Amy thought running her fingers through Alex’s hair. It was one thing she knew all too well. Hopefully none of the scientists had taken samples of her friends or her blood. It would lead to Chronos having a far tighter grip on their already screwed lives then they had now.

Shifting a bit Kristen asks the question Amy is dreading. “What is Chronos?”

Opening her mouth to answer, barely the first syllable has left her lips when the locks on the door click open.  Frozen they three watch in horror as the door swings open and a pair of tall beefy men stand in the doorway. “Walk slowly out of the cell,” one of the men says. Curiously Amy looks at him before voicing a thought.

“Are you a Zaitt?”

“Yes I am. Not that it matter for you to know. Now get out!”

Emilia was the first to be pulled out the door throwing insults at the man who had the unlucky pleasure of that job. She was almost as terrifying as Leslie could be without her internet  floated across Amy’s mind before she was pulled to her feet. Roughly dragged out of the  cell Amy had little time to see what was happening to the others before she was pushed into another one down the hall.

The new cell was just as big as the other one. But, unlike the one the teens had woken up in this one was pure white and stark. The bright light coming from the center of the room lighting up every corner. Amy could only hope the others were lucky enough to not have one such as hers. It reminded her too much of her life as a child.

“My, You're a pretty one,” said a weathered voice from the doorway of the cell.  Turning back to the doorway the sight of a older scientist made her blood run cold. She knew that face, he should have been dead just like all the other scientists who had worked in the San Francisco. Unconsciously she stepped backwards, the movement did not go unnoticed by the other. “I am not here to hurt you child. Merely to take a blood sample for our database. Your friends are getting samples of their blood taken to.”

Amy snorted, as if that was supposed to make her feel better. Knowing she would be forced to give a sample of her blood if she refused Amy offered her right arm. The old scientist smiled lightly at her and worked quickly. Bandaging the wound before leaving. Closing her eyes from the blinding light she sighed, To think I thought I could escape from their hold. But who could escape from the hold of an organization that encompassed the world?

 


	8. the first encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written my by friend and co-writer.

 

Archanfel straightened from his position close to the processing tank and turned to find eight pairs of expectant eyes staring at him. The generous folds of their robes created the illusion of a curtain forest across the floor, all draped heavily in dull purples and greens. They regarded him with the apprehensive look of minions - which they were, of course - and followed his movements as mice might a cat.

“She is coming, is she not?” he asked dryly. “What are you all staring at me for?”

They shuffled around quickly, as if this could disguise their hilarious lack of subtlety. Archanfel smiled his usual wry smile, then dropped the matter and strode to the front of the group. They were all taller than him (some over a foot taller), but this hardly detracted from his stage presence. His brilliant white-blond hair rivaled the shine of diamonds, and his arrogantly tilted eyebrows bespoke the antiquity of his dominance. Above two finely honed cheekbones rested the pale-gold eyes of a feline predator.

It was these he now turned upon them.

“Sir,” Luggnagg began, his head lowered in faux-respect. “We are waiting for your command. You see, dis morning we had realized dat da tanks were not functioning properly, and now - ”

“Yes, I am well aware,” Archanfel said irritably. “I did not ask you to speak.”

“Apologies,” he said, and fell silent.

“Let me repeat my question for you, pompous overlords. Is the girl coming or not?”

“She is coming,” Sin Rubeo Amniculus volunteered.

“Thank you, Amniculus.” Archanfel gave him a piercing look before brushing past him to inspect the tank again. “The damage is not extensive. There has been no breach in security. Have the repairmen on the job and do not bother me again.”

“And da girl?” This, from Luggnagg again.

“I did not ask you to speak, de Krumeggnic.”

“Surely, she’s to have conference with all of us? Might as well, since we’re all here.”

“Enough from you, Caerleon.”

“Well, yeh’ve got to give us some answers!”

“Waferdanos!” Archanfel rubbed his temples. “All of you, shut up. It is imperative that this meeting go off smoothly. This could prevent a disaster or gain us a powerful ally. We must know how much she knows.”

They were quiet for a moment.

Then, Li Yan Tui, who did not normally speak, said in a low voice: “What is she?”

“Not human,” Archanfel replied. The main problem, as they well knew, was that they did not know the problem. The human child was a mystery, and one they were in no position to solve. They had received a tip, thanks to Yan Tui, through their local news source, but besides the usual information about her name, date of birth, medical history, partial biography, and DNA, they had nothing to work with. At all.

“I remember; we saw her,” Imakarum Mirabilis said. “Sort of like a ghost, you know, sort of transparent. She arrived in the middle of a meeting.”

“When was this?” Archanfel appraised him with an upturned eyebrow.

“Yesterday.”

“And you thought not to report it?”

“Well, it’s bloody hard to tell if there’s someone standing there in this light!” Edward Caerleon exploded. “I mean, the damned tree said something about it, and the stupid yellowface - ”

“Hey,” said Imakarum and Yan Tui at once, glaring.

“Kindly refrain from using racial slurs,” Archanfel said smoothly. “You are cut from grosser cloth than you can imagine; I assure you that Europeans were far less developed in ancient times than they would like to admit. But continue.”

“That one said there was a girl watching.” Edward nodded stiffly at Waferdanos.

“Thus spake I, but did they take heed? No indeed!”

“She was watching, you say?” Archanfel mused. “This is looking to be very interesting indeed.”

“Well, I’m glad I’m of interest, really,” said an unfamiliar - and distinctly feminine - voice. “You know that’s what my life’s purpose is - entertaining politicians. Ooh, does that make me an escort?”

The zoalords looked towards the speaker curiously, and with a tinge of discomfort. She had been hitherto been concealed by Carblarl’s enormous form (which now came to join them) as well as Fried’rich’s leaner and bonier shape. As the Prussian now turned and bent to whisper a few words in the girl’s ear, they caught her face for the first time. She had almond eyes and the same faintly mocking smile that Archanfel always wore, but her air of confidence was decidedly forced, and her hands shook as she brushed Fried’rich away.

“Look here, zoalords,” she said loudly, “my friends and I were on a school trip, and we were enjoying it quite well before you came along and kidnapped us. I was told by lardass over here - ” She indicated Carblarl, eyes glinting. “ -  that you guys have a file with our personal information. Isn’t that correct?”

“So we do,” Luggnagg said.

Archanfel nearly pinned him to the wall with his eyes. “Do not speak again, de Krumeggnic.”

“Not too smart, that one is.” The girl smirked. “Well, I already knew that. At any rate, I’d - no, we’d appreciate it if you could let us go before there’s any trouble. Because you wouldn’t want that, would you? Trouble? Even you don’t know what powers we have, and it’s not as if you can find out when we’re not willing to tell you. Some things you just can’t test for. Some things are... farther up our sleeves. And you can’t possibly hope to find them, Archanfel.”

Archanfel stared at her a long moment before the same cynical smile spread across his face. “We shall see, human girl.”

“No,” she said simply, “we shan’t.”

“Put her in one of the tanks,” Archanfel commanded. “Don’t bother helping her if she drowns.”

The girl’s eyes widened, as if she hadn’t fully considered what she had gotten herself into. She backed away, all the while staring unseeingly through the rows of solemn and ancient humans. They advanced towards her, more eagerly than maliciously, but this only made her more nervous, and she stumbled over herself as she went. They bore down on her with the innocent bloodlust of hounds, until finally, she screamed -

“I’M CLAUSTROPHOBIC, GODDAMNIT!”

And fainted.


	9. Blackbirds and Blueberries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang experiences a nightmare in a shared consciousness.

Alarms blared in an observation room as four teens dropped to the floor unconscious. Their brainwaves cutting down to the barest minimum, for all intent and proposes they were brain dead.

“What’s going on in here?” A scientist asked.

“I don’t know sir! They all just lost high functioning brainwaves. I have never seen anything like it before!” The lab tech – who had lost the straw pull for this job – exclaimed.

“I have,” the scientist muttered looking over the teens brainwaves. “Do not move them, they are in the middle of a…conference call.”

 

* * *

 

There wasn’t a ground, only mist that curled toward the bright pink sky. It was to this Emilia awoke. Sitting up quickly she took in her surroundings. Pink sky, mist instead of ground, nothing on the horizon, yup! Emilia thought, I’m in hell!  Getting to her feet she stumbled as an unseen weight settled upon her. Looking down she groaned. “Ah, now that ain’t fair!” Starring her in the face was countless layers of baubles and frills, it reeked of girliness.  Turning around the mist shifted for her to see a large billowing skirt of a dress that could only come from the late 1700s. In a sickening mauve, nothing could make her appearance worse. But she didn’t have to worry about that.

Hearing something that sounded slightly like screaming she looked up in time to see three others fall out of the sky. At the speed they were going it was a good thing there seemed to be no ground. They would have been flattened from impact for sure. Or, Emilia contemplated, they could punch a hole straight through the mist and keep falling. Thankfully neither was the case.

The three teens landed in the mist and sprang to their feet. Looking at each other they could not stop themselves from laughing. Amy was dressed like a cross between a butterfly and a porcelain doll. Her hair while in an intricate design hid two large inteni. Kristen on the other hand was wearing very little, a take on the greaser days of old. Her hair was slicked back and blouse provocative. Heavy eyeliner could be seen on her face. Then there was Alex. Out of his head had grown two large fluffy bunny ears. Pink to be exact! He was adorned with whiskers and an outfit that could only have come from Alice in wonderland.

Giggles having subsided Amy asked, “Where are we?”

“How the hell am I to know?” Emilia shot back. She had never seen a place like this before. A place so -crazy- that it had a pink sky! Now that she thought about it this place felt familiar. As if she had been here before. But, there were no landmarks to show recognition to. It was all strangely déjà vu.

“Guys what is that?” Kristen asked.

“What is what?”

“Look up.”

“Oh! What is that?!”

“That’s what I said,” Kristen stated before rolling her eyes.

Above them had appeared a castle, well the ruins of a castle. The spires had caved in and towers crumbled. From what they could see it was made of worn, grey stone. But they couldn’t see 0.

“How the hell are we supposed to get up there?” Emilia asked.

“We fall.” Alex declared.

“Don’t be ridiculous, we can’t fall into the sky!”

“Who said that’s the sky?” Kristen asked.

Pausing they all looked at each other. “Oh, shit,” The world shifted upside down in a matter of seconds. Screaming once again the friends fell to the ground (again, hopefully this time it is the ground).  The roof to the great hall tore like wrapping paper, sending beams into the floor at odd angles.  Emilia could only hope that she didn’t land on one of them. That was bound to hurt. Looking at the others Emilia could only pray that they survived before she closed her eyes. But the pain she expected never came.

Snapping open her eyes a manic grin split her features. She was sitting at the head of a long table. Around her sat her friends on the most contorted chairs she had ever seen. Upon a mirror shattered and seemingly glued together at odd angles sat Kristen. Amy and Alex shared a love seat made of the maw of a venus fly trap. The table was laid out for a tea party. Cups ranging from the size of teaspoons to laundry baskets were settled on the table. Different flavors of scones and desserts she had never seen before littered the table. “What was unexpected.”

“I know! I thought we would have been pancakes!” Amy shouted.

“Yeah I mea-”

Chatter was cut short as a loud metallic call filled the air. Popping into existence next to Emilia’s chair a large hybrid bird human stood. It had the head of a blackbird but wore a smock of royal blue and dark nearly black purple breeches.  Nothing adorned the thing’s bird feet.

Thrusting out an arm the Blackbird nearly clipped Emilia’s face. Instead a hand holding a letter was inches in front of it. “Ummm.” Emilia looked at the bird questionaly. In reply it only shook its letter clad hand, nearly hitting her in the face again. Another impatient skwak came from the creatures mouth before it stopped moving. Okay, she thought reaching out for the letter. Out of the corner of her eye Emilia watched the bird creature.

Pulling the letter to herself quickly Emilia opened it. There in Leslie’s delicate cursive was a note.

**Naja,** **you need to save me! I passed out in front of the Zoalords. They were planning to put me in the tanks they had in the lab we were in!**

_That doesn't help_ , Emilia thought, in one Chronos base there were hundreds of labs. How the hell were they going to find the one leslie was in?  Another letter was handed to her by the Bird creature.

I really dont care how many labs there are come and get me!

“You guys, it seems that leslie got herself in trouble.” Emilia said looking over the two letters she had.

“Really? How do you know?” Kristen asked.

“She’s sending me these letters by the way of that Hybrid Bird Creature.”

“What Hybrid Bird Creature?” Amy asked.

“The one right next to me.”

“Emilia theres nothing there.”

“Yes the-”

**Only you can see the Black Bird. It is amazing what the mind can do to protect itself. Yes?**

Shaking out of her revire Emilia looked at her friends again. “Never mind.” They went back to the tea and biscuits on the table as Emilia read yet another letter.

**I think that I knocked the four of you out when I collapsed and sucked you into my mind. Which is really weird to think about actually.**

_You sucked us into your mind? Emilia thought expecting Leslie to hear her. You mean this pink hell is your mind? I expected more of a sophisticated manner to this._

**You can't always get what you ask for, can you?**

was Leslie’s  reply.

_True, so how do we get out of here?_

**Ummmmmmmm, drink out of the red teapot that is in the shape of a rose. That should do it.**

Nodding Emilia began to address the others. “Guys we need to drink out of the ro-” The rest of the sentence died in her throat as she looked up. Amy, Alex and Kristen had vanished. In their place two large blueberries and one strawberry stood. “Guy’s?” Getting up to walk over Emilia was shocked to discover that the others had become the berries themselves. “Guys! Wha- how did this happen? Leslie?! Help!”

Laughter could be heard sweeping over the landscape in echos. The ground started to shake as the laughter escalated into gasping breaths for air. As the castle around her began to crumble the laughter stopped completely. So too did the quakes, but that did not matter for the damage was done.  

The castle was completely gone. In its place was rubble and a thin layer of dust that covered everything like a gray cloth.  Not even the table had been saved from the  catastrophic event. The rose shaped teapot had been smashed by saucer the size of a tractor wheel, dripping from it’s remains is the violet liquid that would take out of Leslie’s mind.

**Sorry, I just didn’t expect for them to turn into fruit!**

_Jee, thanks_ Emilia thought letting the note drop. Making her way over to the remains of the rose teapot she spotted a small amount of the liquid still inside. Carefully picking up the  teapot (what was left of it) Emilia walked over to the three berries. Dropping a small amount on each of the berries she prayed that it would work even if  her friends were not in human form.

A few tense seconds later Emilia breathed a breath of relief as the three berries shimmered out of existence. Taking one last look around what she could only assume was the inside of Leslie’s mind Emilia let the last drops of the violet liquid fall on her tongue. Shortly after her vision turned black, and only a Blackbird was left in the now newly arisen castle. In it's shadow stood a figure dressed in black and a hood over their face.                                                                                                                                                      

 


End file.
